If you've been counting down the days until Grand Theft Auto V arrives, Rockstar has offered up some bad news. The game was originally expected to launch in the spring of 2013, which meant sometime in the next couple months. Rockstar has now changed that official launch date and added a significant delay.

“Grand Theft Auto V continues to push the series forward in new ways; Rockstar North are creating our deepest, most beautiful and most immersive world yet,” said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. “We are very excited for people to learn more about the game in the coming months.”

Rockstar announced today that the official launch date for GTA V is September 17, 2013. The company admits that that is about four months later than originally planned. However, Rockstar promises that the delay will be worth it. As for the official reason the game has been delayed, Rockstar only says that the delay is to allow more development time.

Rockstar wrote, "We know this is about four months later than originally planned and we know that this short delay will come as a disappointment to many of you, but, trust us, it will be worth the extra time. GTAV is a massively ambitious and complex game and it simply needs a little more polish to be of the standard we and, more importantly, you require."

When the game launches on September 17, it will be available for the Xbox 360 and the Sony PS3. Reuters reports that some analysts believe GTA V could make as much as $1 billion in retail sales. The last game the franchise, Grand Theft Auto IV, has sold over 25 million copies since it launched in 2008.

GTA games are always on PC. It just takes an additional 6 months to improve the graphics to the point that someone with a PC doesn't think it's a bad joke. So expect a release sometime in March 2014 for PC (maybe later).

I also hope it's more like San Andreas. Yes, it had lots of "empty" spaces. It was hugely enjoyable to explore all of that off-road or on (parachute optional :P). We had planes, helicopters, TANKS. The exploration and sandbox nature of that game meant I played it for far longer than GTA "Middle Of The City And Many Straight Roads". I drove every damn road in San Andreas and the graphics, while low end, never once made the game feel stale or old. A truly great game can run pixellated to Hell and not bother you.